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Black and White Cookies

Servings 14 cookies

Ingredients

Cookies

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour (255 grams)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • ⅓ cup sour cream or whole-milk yogurt (80 milliliters)
  • ⅓ cup whole milk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
  • ¼ teaspoon almond extract
  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature (one stick)
  • ¾ cup plus two tablespoons granulated sugar (200 grams)
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature

Glaze

  • 2½ cups confectioners' sugar (300 grams)
  • 3+ tablespoons boiling water
  • 1½ tablespoons light corn syrup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 pinch fine sea salt
  • 2½ ounces semisweet. chocolate, melted and cooled (70 grams)
  • 2½ tablespoons cocoa powder

Instructions

  • Heat oven to 375° Fahrenheit.
  • Line three rimmed baking dishes with parchment paper.

Prepare cookies

  • In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sea salt, and baking soda. In a medium bowl, whisk together sour cream (or yogurt), milk, vanilla, lemon zest, and almond extract.
  • In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle, beat together butter and sugar at high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.
  • Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in ⅓ of flour mixture, then ⅓ of sour cream mixture. Repeat, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary, until both mixtures are incorporated. The mixture should have the consistency of thick poundcake batter.
  • Place scant ¼-cup scoops of batter onto prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. A taller mound seems to give a more circular cookie, a flatter mound seems to give more irregularly shaped ones. You should have 14 cookies.
  • Bake for 6 minutes. Rotate baking sheets. Continue baking until the cookies are just firm and spring back when light pressed in the center, about 6-9 minutes more. The cookies should only brown on the bottom, if at all. Do not overbake or they will dry out.
  • Transfer baking sheets to wire racks. Cool for 15 minutes, then transfer cookies to racks and cool them completely.

Prepare glaze and glaze cookies.

  • Prepare vanilla glaze: Once the cookies have cooled, place confectioners' sugar in a medium bowl. Whisk in 3 tablespoons boiling water, corn syrup, vanilla, and salt. Continue to whisk and add more boiling water as needed, ½ teaspoon at a time, until the glaze is thick yet spreadable, with the texture of hot fudge sauce.
  • Apply vanilla glaze: On the flat side of each cookie, spread the glaze. Glaze only half of the surface; you will put the chocolate glaze on the other half. As you glaze each cookie, place it on a wire rack to set. You should have vanilla frosting left.
  • Prepare chocolate glaze: Whisk the melted chocolate into the vanilla glaze. Whisk in cocoa and enough room temperature water to make a thick yet spreadable glaze.
  • Apply chocolate glaze: Spread chocolate glaze over the remaining half of each cookie. Return cookies to wire rack and let glaze set for at least 1 to 2 hours.

Notes

Adapted from Perfect Black and White Cookies, Melissa Clark, New York Times.